SAT Motorsports Rigid.

[SteveJ]

I/WE did a couple fat tire bikes in the mid 2000s. Mine was a Big Bear Chopper DA that was demodified .
One thing that my buddy was real good at was running stainless steel hard lines to and from the oil tank. It really cleaned things up.



http://www.clubchopper.com/photopost...0/ppuser/18645

Thanks
The A/N fittings and line came with the bike.
I like the look of s/s or copper lines but I do have knowledge of the properties of both metals , both are prone to weakening through vibration , its physics and cant be argued coherently.

[SteveJ]

Exhaust continuation:

Whoop-de-fuckin'-do some might think , butthis is 2 hours of fucking around with the head pipes and trying to clear the gear behind the pipes. A few things to consider like the cunt-starter on the end of the starter , the oil tank filler tower also the seat went on for the leg bar-be-que check . This configuration is looking good for those issues.

[SteveJ]

Approximately 1/3 done:


Laid out pretty easy, the blue parts are the cut up stock pipe so anyone with an 80's 2-2 stocker can make these pipes!
lol
Brackets , mounts , 'cufflers' lol like mufflers but not the same , and some heat wrap , thats right , heat wrap the backyard pipe makers best friend.
And the angle they gotta take to clear the rear of the frame:

[golfish]

Thanks
The A/N fittings and line came with the bike.
I like the look of s/s or copper lines but I do have knowledge of the properties of both metals , both are prone to weakening through vibration , its physics and cant be argued coherently.

I too thought that over time they would snap or leak. My buddy who did the lines has been working with SS pipe and tubing for 55 years in the food manufacturing business. I've also been in the business as well, just not a mechanic. We see pumps run for 7 days a week 24hrs a day.

The 2 bikes with those hard lines are 15 years old

What is it people say..your mileage may vary.

[SteveJ]

I too thought that over time they would snap or leak. My buddy who did the lines has been working with SS pipe and tubing for 55 years in the food manufacturing business. I've also been in the business as well, just not a mechanic. We see pumps run for 7 days a week 24hrs a day.

The 2 bikes with those hard lines are 15 years old

What is it people say..your mileage may vary.

lol
Harley started out with rigid oil lines , went to rubber , then back to rigid now , but they have some kinda rubber strain relief now.

[SteveJ]

Pipe turn out ends get made. If you ever wondered how it is done here it is:
U bend cut:

Done:

[SteveJ]

And on the pipes , tough to line up both ends straight.

One pipe is longer than the other , any of you fuckin' genius types wanna guess which one?

Cut some 2 1/4" mufflers and slung them onto the pipes.
They sure 'fatten' the pipes up , I'll have to figure a way to crimp the ends down.

[SteveJ]

Muthafuckin' muffla's get made:

And a nice muffler shapes out:

[SteveJ]

Made some needed tooling for pipe making , a v channel and an angled jig to weld the mufflers.
Got them set just nice and ready for mounts and brackets:



The ends aligned , parallel to each other , spaced nicely. The main pipe sections have holes drilled in them under the mufflers for a better sounding exhaust.

[SteveJ]

Pipe mounts are made by welding a 3/8" bolt into a washer, theses are the mounts that will be welded to the pipes themselves:

3 off were made one on the front pipe to join the two and two on the rear pipe:

Two brackets were then made from 3/16" stainless plate:

The strap joins the two pipes:

The shaped bracket bolts to the chain guard mount:


So now we have a nicely made set of pipes with pretty decent brackets to mount them securely. In my experience pipes move around , heating , cooling they need some leeway in the mounting. There is a LOT of alignment to do to make the pipes look proper. I have never used s/s for brackets before , I'm aware of the properties of the metal , I'm hoping they will allow some movement.
We'll see.

[Down]

It's so easy and cheap to just buy prefab bungs these days, that I appreciate anyone making their own mounts to hang stuff. I like this build, keep up the great work.

[SteveJ]

Bungs?
We dont need no stinking bungs.
Dont really know what you are referring to.
If you mean the pipe mounts they are so easily made that sourcing, ordering , and getting some isnt worth it, just make them.
Ordering parts is not really my idea of chopper building , the essence of the work is in making your own parts - singular ,and unique.
This may not be the most popular bike for some , me included , but it gets better and better with every part that I make that wont be seen on every 'internet chopper' out there.
Whats an 'internet chopper' ?
A bike thats put together with ordered parts with little custom fabrication. I know many cant do the work , I know many try and almost get there , I know how many bikes I finished for guys who got to the end of their capabilities. This bike is one of those .
Also this bike is way diff than many choppers , 360 mm tire , zero power train offset , side by side rotor and drive sprocket etc.
Every part I make sets the bike apart just a little more.
To me thats building a chopper.
Besides there arent any pipes that will bolt right on this chassis , except mass produced generic garbage .
I live on an island where products are not always to hand as well so making parts is the first option.
So here we are on this fine mornin' with a singular set of pipes , unique and good looking , splayed to clear the rear , slightly muffled , and toight to the bike , properly made. These pipes will also add to the tuning issues , in a good way making power !!!!!

Thanks for lookin' and commenting.

[SteveJ]

Choppa's are detail work , the best ones always are.
Tryna do that here with some more wood details, from hard island burl wood , a matching piece on the top motor mount cover and the long awaited extra cool coil box cover with laser burned in graphics.

Wood is being used to help detail some of the plain areas of the bike and marches the faux snakeskin on the seat.

[SteveJ]

Final visual check of the pipes looks good.
Ill rip these off and paint the ends black , the rest will get the mega trendy heat wrap. lol

And the at least 7 degree splay the pipes take off the line of the frame:

[SteveJ]

With regard to wide tire Harley's.

In the beginning there were 4 speed trannys .Tough to offset cuz of the tapered keyed output shafts on the engine and tranny. Guys want the widest tire , human nature , so 15" rims were made to accept 15" car tires with a 150mm width , 10 mm more than the stock Harley rear tire size of 140mm . We were working with stock Harley rigid frames and swingarm frames.

Jump ahead a little as racing and the desire for widest tire went forward. At this point jackshafts were brought into play , a short run from the drive sprocket to another sprocket on one end of a jackshaft , the other end was ANOTHER sprocket as far out as the width of tire being used.
Not a lot of this as reading that indicates the hassle of doing alla that work.

BAm!
Evo & the 5 speed hits.
Still tapered main shafts in the early evo years , but in the early 90s splined shafts started coming stock. Very quickly pullys were replaced with the first (for HArleys) offset sprockets. Convert to chain drive and you got up to a 180mm tire on your bike.

But human nature again dictates that at least one guy needs to have the widest tire. Manufacturing had caught up by now and the chopper explosion ,fueled by tv shows went full bore.

Things started getting crazy , starting with offsetting the tranny and primary to the left to accomodate the wide drive belts , using a spacer between the engine and inner primary , first .375 inches , then more and more until 1.5 inches was the limit. Sprocket shaft extensions , spacers , special dumb ass shit to create clearance for tires that are essentially useless on a Harley except for looks.

Then the really stupid and dangerous began with the practice of moving the entire drive train , engine tranny and primary to the left. Offsetting the weight of the power train in this fashion is almost criminal. Harleys already have more left weight with the primary chaincase and its contents hanging off there. Now move the assy 1.5 inches to the left; Fucking stupid!

Experienced riders were starting to notice , usually after a close call or a wipe out , these fucking things are DANGEROUS. With the offset you fight the bike constantly riding on a 5 degree angle to the right just to keep it straight, falling into left turns , and having to stop sign corners to the right. Oh but the tire looks pretty good , 10 inches wide with a tread profile of 6 inches. Cool Buddy , lol!

BAM!!
Again.
Someone came up with a right side drive transmission for Big Twin Harleys.
All of the foolishness stopped. There are still the offset bikes around , there were a lot built.
I see the frames alla time stripped and for sale cheap. Guys get sucked in by the cheap price , dont know what it is they are looking at and are in my opinion getting ripped off. Others buy the bikes , find out they are unrideable and strip out the parts and put them into a proper frame , then you see the frame for sale , like I said , cheap.

This was prompted by a posting on here and the offset frames I see constantly for sale.
You can read this and see my observations of this indusrty phenom during the 90s .

In that time I worked in a world renowned custom Harley chopper shop known for Harley frame work. Anyone else who worked in the industry during this time will confrm my written (close enough) history of it.